UNIT - 5 LESSON - 3 Duties of Subscribers Notes
E-COMMERCE
UNIT - 5 LESSON - 3
Duties of Subscribers
Duties of Subscribers
The IT Act, 2000 stipulates that any subscriber may authenticate an electronic record by affixing his digital signature. This act lays down the following duties of the subscribers who have obtained the Digital signature Certificate from some certifying authority. It further states that any person can verify an electronic records by use of a public key of the subscriber.
Generating key pair (Sec. 40) : A subscriber is required to generate a key pair that corresponds to the private key of that subscriber which is to be listed in the Digital Signature Certificate. This implies that the subscriber must generate an appropriate private key which matches the public key being allotted to him or Her.
Duties of subscriber of Electronic Signature Certificate (Sec. 40A) : In respect of Electronic Signature Certificate the subscriber shall perform such duties as may be prescribed.
Acceptance of Digital Signature Certificate (Sec. 41) : Subscribers to this service will be required to accept a Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) from their provider.
By accepting a Digital Signature Certificate the subscriber certifies to all who
reasonably rely on the information contained in the Digital Signature Certificate that:
i) The subscriber holds the private key corresponding to the public key listed in the Digital Signature Certificate and is entitled to hold the same;
ii) All representations made by the subscriber to the Certifying Authority and all material relevant to the information contained in the Digital Signature Certificate are true;
iii) All information in the Digital Signature Certificate that is within the knowledge of the subscriber is true.
Control of private key (Sec. 42) : Every subscriber shall exercise reasonable care to retain control of the private key corresponding to the public key listed in his Digital Signature Certificate and take all steps to prevent its disclosure. Every subscriber shall communicate the same without any delay to the Certifying Authority in such manner as may be specified by the regulations.
Salient features of Information Technology (Amendment) Act, 2008 :
The Information Technology Act, 2008 has been signed by the President of India on February, 2009. A review of the amendments indicates that there are several provisions relating to data protection and privacy as well as provisions to curb terrorism using the electronic and dgital medium have been introduced into the new Act.
Some the Salient features of the Act are as follows:
• The term digital signature has been replaced with electronic signature to make the act more technology neutral.
• A new section has been inserted to define communication device to mean cell phones, personal digital assistance or combination of both or any other device used to communicate, send or transmit any text video, audio or image.
• A new section has been added to define cyber café as any facility from where the access to the internet is offered by any person in the ordinary course of business to the members of the public.
• Sect 69A and B grant powers to the state to issue directions for blocking for public access of any information through any computer resource and to authorize to monitor and collect traffic data or information through any computer resource for cyber security.
• Section 79 of the old Act which exempted intermediaries has been modified to the effect that an intermediary shall not be liable for any third party information data or communication link made available or hosted by him if
(a) the function of the intermediary is limited to providing access to a communication system over which information made available by third parties is transmitted or select the receiver hosted
(b) the intermediary does not initiate the transmission or select the receiver of the transmission and select or modify the information contained in the transmission
(c) the intermediary observes due diligence while discharging his duties.
Related to Topic
Digital certificates are the digital equivalent (i.e. electronic format) of physical or paper certificates. They can be used to verify that a public key belongs to the individual. A subscriber is deemed to have accepted a certificate if he publishes or authorizes the publication of a Digital Signature Certificate.
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